On Sat, 31 Aug 2002, Dave Melton wrote:

> I've built another machine with very similar (but not identical)
> hardware, for use as a backup server.  I'd like to duplicate as
> much as possible from the "live" server onto this machine, so I
> don't have to reinvent the wheel, installing and configuring a
> dozen different apps.  The best possible solution would be to have
> the backup machine alive and running as a secondary server, with
> all content and new apps automagically transferred from the primary
> and DNS sharing the load between the systems.  At a minimum, I'd
> like to be able to move the backup machine to the co-lo facility,
> change its IP address, and have it come up and run with minimal
> impact on operations.
>
> The bottom line is, how do I do this as simply as possible, and
> without creating a huge security compromise?  Is rsync the right
> approach, or is there something better?

I do something similar for a few servers using rsync. (rsync via ssh with
the AuthorizedKeysFile listing the hosts allowed.)

It is important to note that if you lose files or have files modified on
the original server, the next time your rsync runs, you will change the
backups too. So it is important to keep incremental backups.

You may want to consider to also use the dump(8) tool to make incremental
backups to a extra hard disk (or tape).

Then maybe also save important data to CDs (tapes, and/or removable disks)
that you can keep safe at different location.

Good luck,

   Jeremy C. Reed
   http://bsd.reedmedia.net/